


In Transition

by jdjunkie



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, early seasons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-07
Updated: 2012-07-07
Packaged: 2017-11-09 08:49:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/453627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdjunkie/pseuds/jdjunkie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It wasn’t that Daniel was afraid of giving them away. He was afraid that, in finding love, they’d given away their friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Transition

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by magnavox_23's sketch, To Sleep; the link takes you to her DW studio:
> 
> http://magnavox-23.dreamwidth.org/290537.html
> 
> Written for International J/D Blanket Fort Day.

Another day, another dollar, another mission tuned to shit.  
  
They were dirty, sweaty, hungry and tired. More than anything, they were tired.  
  
Teal’c had taken on pilot duty of Jacob’s cargo ship without discussion. Sam and her dad were talking quietly in the hold, sitting side by side on one of the ledges that passed for beds. Jack laid a hand on Jacob’s shoulder as he entered the room and gave a squeeze -- an unvoiced thank you for rescuing them from a planet unexpectedly full of Heru’Ur’s Jaffa and a stargate that fritzed in a massive electrical storm.  
  
It had been a relentless game of hide and seek on the run, and the team had been running on adrenaline and little else for too long.  
  
Hammond had been quick to request Tok’ra help when check-ins were missed. Jack loved him a whole lot for that.  
  
Now, it was definitely time to recharge the batteries.  
  
Jack walked over next to where Daniel was sitting on the floor, head resting on folded arms on his knees. He hadn’t even been able to haul himself onto the bed. With an exhausted groan, Jack sank down and let gravity take him all the way. As his butt hit the floor, he blew out a “god, finally” breath and winced as he straightened his legs. His knees would make him pay for this for weeks.  
  
Jack briefly closed his eyes then reached for his radio. “Teal’c, wake me in two hours. That’s an order.”  
  
“Understood.”  
  
Tired as he was, Jack registered the fact that Teal’c hadn’t actually said he would wake him in two hours. Same old Teal’c, just as rebellious as that first day on Chulak, but in a quieter, less obvious way these days. Jack was fairly certain he’d be bawling him out for disobeying an order a few hours down the line.  
  
Jack watched Carter take a crushed power bar from her pocket, slowly tear open the wrapper and offer half to her dad.  
  
“Get some sleep, Carter,” Jack said, giving her what he hoped was a stern look. “I can make that an order.”  
  
“No need, Sir,” she said, taking a small bite but barely able to summon up the energy to chew. “ I could sleep for a month.”  
  
Jack smiled. He thought, not for the first time, that he had one hell of a team.  
  
Beside him, Daniel yawned and raised his head, letting it slowly fall back against the wall with a dull thunk.  
  
“You okay?” Jack asked, quietly.  
  
“All things considered.” Daniel swallowed and his throat was so dry Jack heard the tell-tale click loud and clear.  
  
“Drink some water,” he said, trying to sound more like a CO than a concerned lover. There was no place for that man here. His feelings for Daniel were neatly compartmentalized; the military mind had its merits. Daniel, however, was struggling. What they had was six weeks old. Six weeks of being what Jack had long hoped they’d become. They were in a period of transition and it was obvious to Jack that Daniel was finding it harder to cope with than he was.  
  
“That would mean moving,” Daniel said, showing no intention of moving at all.  
  
“You’ll give yourself a headache.”  
  
“I already have a headache.”  
  
“Then it’ll get worse.”  
  
Jack felt Daniel’s gaze bore into him and turned to face him. Grimy, at the end of his rope, punchy through lack of sleep, Daniel still looked beautiful. It was one of the great unfairnesses of the universe.  
  
Daniel sighed and let his head roll back until he was facing front again. “I’ll be okay after some rest.” He regarded the sleeping platform. “All I have to do is make it up there.”  
  
Jack considered the logistics. “It’s a long way,” he said, finally.  
  
“We’re SG-1. We do at least a dozen impossible things before breakfast.”  
  
Even as Daniel spoke, his words slow and strained, Jack knew he’d never make it that far.  
  
“Well, I’m calling a time-out on this Mission Impossible.” Jack scooted closer to Daniel until he felt their shoulders touch. The contact felt wonderful and warm, even through layers of regulation military clothing. “My shoulder’s way more comfortable than any piece of Goa’uld furniture.”  
  
For a while, Daniel didn’t say anything and made no move to settle in. Then he whispered, “That’s not a good idea, Jack.”  
  
Jack watched Carter finish off her power bar. Jacob kissed her gently on the forehead and helped her lie down. The groan of delight as she turned onto her side and pillowed her hands under her cheek resonated deep in Jack. He was so tired that Daniel’s words didn’t register at first. When they did, he fixed him with a “You’ve got to be kidding me” look.  
  
Daniel remained resolutely not asleep on Jack’s shoulder.  
  
“You’re tired. You need to sleep. So sleep.” Fatigue made the words harsher than Jack intended.  
  
“Not ... like this. I can’t.” Daniel’s body language radiated tension, which, mixed with his obvious reluctance to claim the rest he so badly needed, confused the hell out of an already loopy Jack.  
  
“You’re being ridic -"   
  
“I can’t let myself do that. It won’t stop with my head on your shoulder. Do I need to spell it out?” He hissed the final sentence.  
  
“We’re not exactly spooning naked, Daniel.”  
  
Daniel sighed and banged his head against the wall, the thunk not so dull this time. “I can’t be this close and not get ... closer.”  
  
Jack thought about that. Daniel was an inveterate snuggler. For a man who rarely sought out affection while awake, his subconscious did a great job of making up for it when he was asleep. If he went to sleep in their bed with his arm around Jack’s waist, he ended up with his legs entwined with Jack’s and his face buried in Jack’s neck. If they watched TV on the sofa, Daniel always stretched out, and his head ended up coming to rest on Jack’s chest while their legs and feet tangled of their own accord.  
  
It was just something Daniel did. But it was something Daniel did in the part of their life that wasn’t SG-1.  
  
Jack licked his lips. He was beyond tired. This has had to be sorted.  
  
“Hear that?”  
  
Daniel’s brow furrowed. “What?”  
  
A soft snore came from across the hold.   
  
“That’s the sound of Carter following orders.”  
  
“Good for Sam.”  
  
“Which means that when Jacob finishes tallying his supplies over there, we’re on our own. Nothing to see here.”  
  
Daniel bit his lip. “I’m just being careful. If we ...”  
  
“Well don’t be. There’s no need. After the crappy, exhausting mission we’ve just been through, I’d let any member of my team fall asleep on my shoulder right now.”  
  
Daniel gave him a “yeah, right” laser glare which pissed Jack off more than he could articulate because Daniel knew he spoke the truth. Jack would always be there with a shoulder to lean on for Carter or Teal’c.  
  
“I can still be your friend,” Jack said, softly.  
  
That, right there, seemed to be at the heart of it. They had something more now. Something rich and complex and difficult and wonderful. But Daniel seemed to need to know that their friendship, their heard-earned comradeship, hadn’t been lost along the way.  
  
It wasn’t that Daniel was afraid of giving them away. He was afraid that, in finding love, they’d given away their friendship.  
  
“Friends fall asleep on each other’s shoulders, Daniel. Teammates do that, too. And if Carter or Jacob or Teal’c found us sprawled all over each other here, what are they going to think?”  
  
Daniel blinked at him, a hair’s breadth from falling asleep mid-flutter.  
  
“They’re going to think, ‘Man, they’re really out of it. Bad day.’ And they’d be right.”  
  
Daniel blinked again. Jack could always tell when Daniel was about to concede defeat in an argument. He squinched his eyes and pouted. It was cute and meant he never actually said the words, “I give in. You win,” because he didn’t have to.  
  
“I want to tell Sam and Teal’c,” Daniel said, in a vain bid to have the final word, eyes straying to where Sam was sleeping.  
  
“Okay, we can discuss that.” And that would be a discussion that could well result in no squinching and pouting and that scared the hell out of Jack. “But please ... can you just put that stubborn fucking head on my bony fucking shoulder and sleep now?  
  
That elicited a tried smile and an insouciant, “If you insist.”  
  
Jack was nothing but relieved and grateful when the comforting weight finally rested against him. It was heaven. With Daniel’s shoulder pressed close and the feel of Daniel’s soft hair against his cheek, Jack felt himself finally start to let go. As his eyes slid shut, he caught Jacob’s eye as he left the hold, probably on the way to keep Teal’c company, and wondered what he saw.  
  
As sleep drew him under, he realized it didn’t matter, and that he needed the comfort of Daniel’s proximity right now as much as Daniel needed his.  
  
Hell of a place to have an epiphany like that.   
  
Chalk up one more impossible thing before breakfast.  
  
Jack fell asleep with a smile on his lips and Daniel’s hand covering his heart.  
  
ends


End file.
